Comedies showcase women behaving badly

Credit "Bridesmaids" for the recent flood of risque, female-driven comedies that would make the women of Kristen Wiig's film comedy proud ---- or blush.

Take "The Bachelorette," which opens in theaters Friday and is the story of three young women indulging in drugs and all manner of debauchery before the wedding of a disliked high school classmate. Or last weekend's "For a Good Time, Call ..." about two financially desperate 20somethings who start a phone sex line from their apartment.

The new movies follow in the path of established young female writers such as Diablo Cody and Liz Meriwether. But at least a portion of the credit goes to "Bridesmaids," which became a cultural phenomenon last year and has sent strong ripples through not only Hollywood but also, more improbably, independent filmmaking.

Though many of the directors with female-driven pictures this year were working on their movies long before Universal Pictures released "Bridesmaids" last May, nearly all were aware of the Paul Feig-directed film, which spent years in development before reaching the big screen. In the case of the pre-wedding debauchery comedy "Bachelorette," the filmmakers even used the success of "Bridesmaids" to secure financing for their movie last summer.

"Bachelorette" writer-director Leslye Headland, who penned the script in 2008 based on an off-Broadway play she created, bristles at the comparison to "Bridesmaids," even going so far as to issue a director's statement that lays out the differences.

Still, Headland acknowledged that her movie, which is being produced by Will Ferrell, has gained a higher profile due to the success of "Bridesmaids."

"I look at it a little like 'Bonnie & Clyde' in 1967," said Headland, who's in her early 30s. "You have a movie that gets everyone's attention and all these comparisons are drawn and they're not always right. But then it's like, 'Thank God, let's make more movies like that.'"

Lauren Miller co-wrote the phone-sex film "For a Good Time, Call ..." (which opened in theaters last weekend). The film is based on the experience of her co-writer, a friend and college roommate named Katie Anne Naylon. Miller said that the pair encountered a lot of resistance when they tried to set up the film at a studio (pre-"Bridesmaids"). They eventually decided to finance it independently with the help of Miller's brother, who works on Wall Street.

Paradoxically, the result is a film that would have slotted in nicely on any studio's post-"Bridesmaids" wish list. "We wanted it to be a girl's story that followed the traditional romantic comedy format, but with females," she said. "It's about us falling in love as friends, not falling in love with our boyfriends." (Miller has until now been known to the public as the wife of Seth Rogen; the actor has a cameo in "For a Good Time, Call ...").

Just as Wiig and Feig did in "Bridesmaids," filmmakers and actors say that this generation is willing to explore female characters in a way a previous generation wasn't: by showing them to be as flawed, base and, yes, funny, as men. Female characters can also screw up things just as royally.

On top of that, they say, women can just make for better entertainment.

"I actually think women's particular insanity is more interesting to watch," said actress Lizzy Caplan, who stars in "Bachelorette." "Our neuroses make us better characters.

"I'm happy that 'Bridesmaids' will get (butts) in seats," Caplan said. "But what I'm also excited about is that people will come in to see a movie because they hear it's about female friends at a wedding. And then they're going to be very surprised to see it's something totally different."